I-League: East Bengal beat ONGC to go top of the table

Kolkata: East Bengal went top of the I-League football table after thrashing ONGC 5-0 in a seventh round match at the Salt Lake Stadium here Saturday.

ONGC were reduced to 10 men early in the second half when their defender Sandeep Sangha received his second booking of the match. But the concession in numbers in the opponent ranks could not rob East Bengal of the credit of being the deserving winners.

The weekend crowd of around 15,000 were treated to a feast of attacking football as East Bengal played a superlative second half.

The weekend crowd of around 15,000 were treated to a feast of attacking football as East Bengal played a superlative second half. AIFF

Edeh Chidi, Orji Penn, Manandeep Singh, and substitutes Lalrindika Ralte and Robin Singh were the scorers as East Bengal cruised to its third successive win.

The Kolkata giants have scored 11 goals in the last three rounds without conceding any.

East Bengal could have taken their tally past the half-dozen mark had not ONGC made couple of desperate saves to prevent Ralte and Robin from scoring once more.

East Bengal top the table with 17 points while ONGC remained in the bottom half with six points.